EzineArticles.com, the giant repository for thousands of articles that can be picked up by editors and publishers all over the world, is one of my favorite places for submitting how-to articles. Now, they've added eight new categories for articles: Data Recovery---Lost data? Got data? This computer related category covers all of the issues … [Read more...]
How a freelance business writer can get more clients
This week, Cheryl Beck asks: "I am a freelance writer and I am trying to get more business writing clients. I also offer some publicity services because writing is so heavily involved. What I need are ideas to promote myself to get the ball rolling. I can think of campaigns for other companies, but not many for myself as a home-based B2B … [Read more...]
Boulder newspaper trains citizen journalists
One of the things I hated about the newspaper business was our failure, as a whole, to teach people how to use the newspaper. That's why I welcome a [Read more...]
Why Publicity Hounds must have good-quality publicity photos
I'll bet at least 3 out of 4 of you who are reading this right now don't have a good-quality photo of yourself that you can give to a reporter or editor who asks for it. Photos are often far more powerful than articles. Every time my photo appears in the newspaper along with a news item about me or an article I wrote, I always hear the same … [Read more...]
Quote excerpts from product reviews, with attribution
Lisa Wuennemann of Beloit, Wisconsin writes: "When a reporter reviews our new product and prints a review in the newspaper or voices it on air, can we legally use a quote from the review in materials that we send promoting the product as long as we source it? Do we need to obtain written approval first?" The Publicity Hound says: I forwarded … [Read more...]
Keep track of who’s using your articles
If you write articles for print or online publications, here are three reasons why you should keep track of who's using them. --You want to thank the editors and start establishing a relationship with them. --You want to add their names to your media database and continue submitting articles as often as you can. --You want to know if anyone is … [Read more...]
Go out with a bang and write your own obit
True Publicity Hounds take every opportunity to build the buzz and keep it humming, even long after they're gone. How? By writing their own obituaries. Check out this article in Newsweek magazine on an emerging trend--writing your own obit. … [Read more...]
Submit online articles to pull website traffic
Once a month, small-business marketing expert Sharron Senter writes a how-to article that helps small businesses tackle a problem. She submits it to up to 30 different portals. A portal is a launching pad of sorts that helps consumers find destination and commerce sites. Search engine websites you are familiar with such as Google, Yahoo!, Lycos … [Read more...]
Write a thumbnail bio for the end of your articles
While en route to a speaking engagement, I found a page in Airtran Airways' in-flight magazine that's a great lesson on how to write thumbnail bios. These are one- or two-sentence bios that you can tack onto the end of articles you write for other publications, along with your contact information such as an email address and website URL. You can … [Read more...]
“Savvy Senior” columnist self-syndicates
Every so often, an excited Publicity Hound writes to tell me about a terrific idea for a column they want to write and sell to one of the big news syndicates so they can become rich and famous like Dear Abby, Ann Landers, Mike Royko and hundreds of others. Not so fast, I tell them. Selling your column to a syndicate is a long shot because … [Read more...]